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CORRESPONDENCE 




MR. WEBSTER 



fyis Ncto §ampsl)tre Neighbors. 



WASHINGTON : 

GIDEON AND CO., PRINTERS. 
1850. 



$ 




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CORRESPONDENCE 



MR. 'WEBSTER 



fy\B N*to fyamp5[)\xt NrigljbotB, 




WASHINGTON : 

GIDEON AND CO., PRINTERS. 
1850. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Salisbury, N. H., August, 1850. 

To the Hon. Daniel Webster: 

It has occurred to us, the undersigned, that while 
commendation is reaching you from all quarters of our 
common country, for your recent exertions in behalf 
of the Union and Constitution, a token of remem- 
brance and gratitude from the place of your birth, 
from the home of your youth, and the scenes of 
your earlier professional efforts, would not be un- 
acceptable. 

We cannot allow this occasion to pass without as- 
suring you of our unfaltering confidence and respect ; 
without assuring you that your old neighbors and 
their descendants are as ready to perform their con- 
stitutional duties as to vindicate their rights; that 
we are devoted to the Union as it is ; that we adhere 
to the whole Constitution ; and that, while we trust 
in its protection, we will uphold its power. 



Your recent labors to remind a distracted people 
of the duties which they owe to a common country, 
and the blessings which they derive from a common 
Constitution, are, in our judgment, as important as 
any which you have performed in a long public ser- 
vice, crowned as that service has been with unsur- 
passed ability and success. 

To you, more than to any statesman of modern 
times, do the people of this country owe their national 
feeling, which we trust is to save their Union in this 
its hour of trial. 

We have carefully considered what you have said 
and proposed; and, as we understand the matter, you 
are now upon the same ground as when, twenty years 
ago, you crushed nullification. 

Now as then, in spite of local prejudices and fac- 
tions, sound constitutional and national principles will 
prevail; and if the voice of general commendation is 
occasionally broken by impotent censure, it will not 
disturb you, because it must remind you that it is Fac- 
tion, and not the Union, which is overthrown. 

Respectfully, your friends and fellow-citizens. 

(Signed) 

EBENEZER PRICE, ENOCH CORSER, 

ABRAHAM BURNHAM, TIIOS. PETTKNGILL, 

NATH. BOUTON, HEZKKI All FKLLOVVS, 

EDWARD UIXTON, DAVID AMES, 



EPH. PLUMMER, 
ABIEL GERRISH, 
THOMAS LITTLE, 
WORCESTER WEBSTER, 
J. GREENOUGH, 
PAUL PEARSON, 
WILLIAM PEARSON, 
WM CHANDLER, 
EPH. LITTLE, 
J. C. GAGE, 
L. J. JOHNSON, 
LUTHER GAGE, 
CALVIN GAGE, 
J. KIMBALL, 
N P. AMES, 
J. H. CLEMENT, 
T. R. LITTLE, 
J. W. LITTLE, 
C. E. SMITH, 
JOSEPH AMES, 
WILLIAM PATRICK, 
CALEB B. TRACED, 
ASA P. TENNEY, 
EDMUND WORTH, 
PARKER NO YES, 
GEORGE W. NESMITH, 
S. B. LITTLE, 
DAVID AMBROSE, 
HENRY GERRISH, 
JOSEPH PILLSBURY, 
GEORGE LITTLE, 
ENOCH LITTLE, 
F. L. BURBANK, 
J. B. GREENOUGH, 
JACOB TRUSSELL, 
CHAS. C. COFFIN, 
A. R. CHANDLER, 
H. W. PILSBURY, 
J. C JOHNSON, 
HIRAM GAGE, 
JAMES BRIGGS, 



S. K. CHOATE, 
E. G. WOOD, 
S. G. CLEMENT, 
T. D. LITTLE, 
MOSES FELLOWS, 
CALEB SMITH, 
REUBEN JOHNSON, 
ALMON HARRIS, 
R. GAGE, 
DAN'L CARTER, 
DAN'L S. BALCH, 
N. CLARK, Jr., 
JOHN JOHNSON, 
SAM'L M. DUREYB, 
J. BATCHELDER, 
DAVID HANNEFORD, 
DEXTER PRITCHARD, 
N. CHANDLER, 
JNO. JAMESON, 
SAM'L C. FLANDERS, 
HIRAM SIMPSON, 
ROYAL CHOATE, 
SAM'L GEORGE, 
JAMES COLBURN, 
JNO. HARRIS, 
A. G. STEVENS, 

D. J. DANIELS, 

J. G. O. PEABODY, 
CHAS. GARLAND, 
WM. FLANDERS, 
AUSTIN F. PIKE, 
GEO. ATKINSON, 

E. F. GREENOUGH, 
AMOS WEBBER, 
ABNER WINN, 
HORACE D. LEWIS, 
JOHN G. WARREN, 
A. O. BLANDING, 
CALVIN GERRISH, 
H. C. SARGENT, 
FARNUM COFFIN, 



.1 LIMES T. BOYNTON, 
GEORGE S. ROYCE, 
JOHN PRENCfi, 
M. A. KILDUN, 
JOS. GERRISH, 
PHINEAS J. PEARSON, 
DAVID JACKM \N. 
S. A. AMBROSE, 
NATHAN PEARSON, 
HENRY ROLFE, 
J. K. HHISKETT, 
T. C. ROLFE, 
A. ROLFE, 
JACOB HOSMER, 
JNO. A. COBURN, 
ELDAD TENNEY, 
SAM'L OSGOOD, 
JOSEPH CLARK, 
MILTON GERISH, 



IRA GREELY, 
JNO. TAYLOR, 
HENRY BURLEY, 
JONATHAN LEVETT, 
WM. D. LADD, 
RALPH WEBSTER, 
ED. P. COGSWELL, 
AMOS WEBSTER, 
REUBEN FELLOWS, 
JEREMIAH MORRILL, 
R. S. MORRILL, 
J. S. BROWN, 
J. W. STEVEN, 
WM. G. McQUESTEN, 
G. McQUESTIN, 
PETER COFFIN, 
WM. W. KILBORN, 
JOS. CHADWICK. 



Washington, 51st Sept., 1850. 

Gentlemen : I have received your letter of last 
month, expressing your approbation of my public 
political conduct, and especially of my efforts in Con- 
gress, to settle questions which have long agitated 
the country and disturbed its peace. 

Happily, gentlemen, those questions are now, I 
trust, disposed of, and better prospects open upon 
the country. 

The thirty-one American States stretch over a 
vast extent of country, running through several de- 
grees of latitude and longitude, and embracing many 
varieties of soil, climate, institutions, habits, and pur- 
suits ; yet over all, the Union and the Constitution 
still stand, everywhere giving protection and security, 
and everywhere cherished, at the present moment, 
with general and warm patriotic regard. The inter- 
ests of the different parts of the country, though 
various, are not opposite ; flowing, indeed, in diverse 
channels, but all contributing to swell the great tide 
of national prosperity. Under the operation of the 
Constitution, we have now been for sixty years free 
and happy; civil and religious liberty have stood firm 
and unshaken ; popular education has received a new 
impulse and a wider spread ; and moral and religious 
instruction has become characteristic of our age; 



8 

agriculture, commerce, and manufactures have been 
steadily encouraged and sustained; and, under the 
blessing of Providence, general competency and satis- 
factory means of living have everywhere rewarded 
the efforts of labor and industry. And, in the mean 
time, gentlemen, the country has attained to such a 
degree of honor and renown, that every patriotic 
man, in addition to his own individual means of en- 
joyment, derives a positive pleasure from participating 
in the reputation of his country. Of what other 
country upon earth can this be said, with so much 
truth? Who, then, would undermine this Union? 
Who would raise his hand against this Constitution? 
Who would scoff at those political and social bless- 
ings which Providence has never before seen fit to 
vouchsafe, in such abundance, to any community of 
men ? Self love, our hopes for the future, national 
pride, and gratitude to God, all conspire to prompt 
us to embrace these institutions of our native land 
with all the affections of our hearts, and to defend 
them with all the strength of our hands. In a critical 
hour, and not without some personal hazard, I have 
discharged my duty and freed my conscience, to its 
very depth, in public efforts to maintain them, limited 
only by the measure of my ability. And since 
these efforts are regarded as having contributed some- 
thing t<> the adjustment of dangerous controversies, 
and to the establishment of peace and harmony 
among fellow-citizens and brothers, I desire no re- 



9 

ward but the cheering voices of good men, and the 
approbation of my own conscience. 

And now, Friends and Neighbors, I could pour 
out my heart in tenderness of feeling for the affec- 
tionate letter which comes from you. Approving 
voices have been heard from other quarters; other 
commendations have reached me, high enough and 
warm enough to demand, as they have received, my 
most grateful acknowledgments and regard. But 
yours comes from home •, it comes from those whom 
I have known, and who have known me, from my 
birth. It is like the love of a family circle ; its influ- 
ences fall upon my heart as the dew of Hermon. 
Those of you who are the most advanced in age 
have known my father, and my family, and especially 
that member of it, whose premature death inflicted a 
wound in my breast, which is yet fresh and bleeding. 
Some of you were my companions in the country 
schools 5 with others I have partaken in the sports of 
youth, the cheerful labor of the field of agriculture, 
and in the associations and exercises of early man- 
hood. I see on the list learned and now aged and 
venerable clergymen ; professional gentlemen and 
magistrates, of my own age, whom I have long 
honored and esteemed ; and others of all classes and 
all pursuits in life. There are on the list, also, not a 
few, who bear my name and partake my blood. 
What I was in early life you all know ; towards what 



10 

I may have done at subsequent periods, for the good 
of the country, you have ever manifested sufficiently 
favorable and partial regard; and now, after I have 
been called upon to act a part in a more important 
crisis, perhaps, than any other of my life, your kind 
regard, your neighborly recognition of former times 
and former friendships, and the affectionate terms in 
which you express yourselves, make your letter a 
treasure, precious in my esteem, which I shall keep 
near me always, while I live, and lea\e for the grati- 
fication of those who may come after me. 

Your obliged friend and neighbor, 

DAN. WEBSTER. 

To Rev. Ebenezer Price, 

Rev. Abraham Burnham, D. D. 

Rev. Wm. Patrick, 

Rev. Caleb B. Tracey, 

Rev. Nathaniel Bouton, D. D. 

Rev. Asa P. Tenney, 

Rev. Edmund Worth, 

Rev. Enoch Corser, 

Hon. Parker Noyes, 

Hon. Thomas H. Pettengill, 

Hon. George W. Nesmith, and others. 



W46 













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